15 Apps Everyone Needs on Their Apple Watch

What should you download? These apps are the best place to start.

Lance Whitney

21 Mar 2019, 10:50 a.m.

You've got an Apple Watch and you want to get some great apps for it. But which apps will work with it, and which are worth trying? That depends on how you want to use your watch. You can listen to music, stay fit, keep up with news, find information, and so much more.

To use an app on your Apple Watch, you first need to install it on your iPhone. To see which apps are already installed and which ones are available, open the Watch app on your phone. Swipe down on the My Watch screen to the "Installed on Apple Watch" section. You can remove an installed app by tapping it and turning off the option to "Show App on Apple Watch."

Swipe down to Available Apps and tap the Install button for any apps you want. To find more programs, tap the icon for App Store in the Watch app to browse or search. Now, let's check out those 15 apps you should have on your Apple Watch.

Authy

Using two-factor authentication is one way to better secure your website logins. And Authy can make the process easier by letting you authenticate on your Apple Watch.

First, you must enable two-factor authentication for each website you want to add to the app and choose the option to use an authenticator app. Using Authy on your iPhone, you then set up your accounts for each site by scanning a QR code or manually entering a key.

The app supports thousands of different sites and services, including Gmail, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, and Amazon.

The next time you sign into one of those sites, you'll be prompted to enter your password and then enter the security code generated through Authy. If your iPhone isn't handy, you can instead turn to the Apple Watch app, where you just tap the account and enter the generated code number.

AutoSleep Tracker for Watch

Having trouble getting a good night's sleep? For $2.99, AutoSleep Tracker can report not just on the quantity of your sleep hours but on their quality. Simply wear your Apple Watch to bed.

The app monitors and records your total time asleep, your wake time, and your restless time, along with each phase of sleep such as light sleep and REM sleep. The app also keeps track of your heart rate during the night.

The next morning, you can check the data in the watch app and the iPhone app to see how the night went. If you'd rather not wear your watch in bed, you can still tell the app when you turn in and when you wake up so it can track your sleep.

Carrot Weather

Carrot Weather is a great app if you like a little snark and sarcasm along with your weather report. For $4.99, the app delivers everything a weather junkie would want, including the current temperature, wind speed and direction, UV index, cloud cover, visibility, humidity, and dew point.

You can gaze into the future with the week's weather forecast, check out the weather in other parts of the world, or hear the current weather spoken aloud to you, complete with a sarcastic remark.

Certain features are available only with subscriptions to the $3.99-per-year Premium Club or the $9.99-per-year Ultrapremium Club, but the basic app will keep you informed and entertained.

Find Your Car with AR

The iPhone app version of Find Your Car with AR helps you find your parked car by pointing you in its direction via an augmented reality view. Though the Apple Watch app doesn't actually use AR, it can still help you locate your car.

After you park, open the Watch version and tap the button for "I parked here." You can then select the type of GPS accuracy you want to use to find the car—more precise or faster. When it's time to return to your car, the app will tell you when you're getting near it and show you the actual location on a map.

Gymaholic Workout Tracker

You'll find lots of fitness and exercise apps for the Apple Watch, but a free one to get you moving is Gymaholic. This app serves up a different routine for each day. Every routine contains a series of exercises, and you can add more workouts by sending them to your watch from the iPhone app.

On one day, you can focus on your chest, biceps, and triceps through a barbell bench press, a barbell curl, and a triceps pushdown. On another day, you can tone up your back, shoulder, and abs via a barbell press behind the neck, a crunch, and a leg raise. And if you don't know how to do a particular exercise, just tap it, and the app explains the steps.

Gymaholic monitors each exercise, showing you the number of reps, your heart rate, and the calories burned. You can save the stats for each workout and sync them with your phone to view your history. For $4.99 per month or $31.99 a year, the premium version kicks in more features.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Need a definition for a word on the fly? Turn to the handy Merriam-Webster Dictionary app. The Apple Watch version is simple but it gets the job done. Tap the "Get Definition" button and speak your word. Siri pops up to receive it and then serves up a definition.

You can swipe down the screen to view the entire definition, which can be brief or quite detailed depending on the word. You can also get definitions for phrases and other items that you'd find in the average dictionary. If you need more information, you can open the app on your iPhone, but the Apple Watch version is effective on its own.

Microsoft Translator

Need a translation on the fly? Turn to your Apple Watch to get help from Microsoft's own Translator app. This handy and effective app can translate words and phrases from English to any one of dozens of languages.

After you open the app, long-press on the screen, tap the Choose language button, and then select the target language, such as Italian, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and even Klingon.

Tap the microphone icon and speak the word or phrase you want translated. Tap Done, and the translation appears on the screen. Tap the speaker icon to hear the translation, the pin icon to save the word or phrase, or the microphone icon to say something else.

Moment - Pro Cam

Controlling your iPhone camera from your Apple Watch can come in handy if you need to snap a photo remotely, and Moment - Pro Camera can do just that. From the Apple Watch app, you can snap a photo or shoot a video, switch between the front and rear camera, or set a timer to take a photo in 3 or 10 seconds.

MyFitnessPal

With the MyFitnessPal app, you can track and record your food and water intake and calories consumed toward a goal of weight loss and a healthier lifestyle. You'll first have to sign up for a free account and then enter some details about yourself, such as height, weight, and ideal weight.

On your Apple Watch, the app starts by displaying the number of calories, carbs, fat, and protein that you've eaten. At the next screen, you can keep track of how much water you drink. Swipe to the next screen to add the number of calories for each meal and snack.

The next screen shows the totals of each nutrient that you can or should consume for the day. The final screen displays the number of steps you've taken throughout the day. The premium version will cost you $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

News 360

With News 360, you first select your interests to determine the news stories that will appear. After doing this on your phone, you can then access the stories via the Apple Watch app.

Depending on your interests, the app will serve up a couple of the top stories for each category. Swipe from one story to the next. You can then tap a button to load More stories. Each item displays a headline, photos, and most of the full story, at least several paragraphs worth.

To read the entire story, you’ll have to turn to your iPhone, but the Apple Watch version is still a convenient way to stay up to date on the latest items in the news.

Overcast Radio

Sure, you can listen to your favorite podcasts through Apple's own Podcasts app, which works fine on the Apple Watch. But the free Overcast app offers more features and options. First, open Overcast on your iPhone to subscribe to your favorite podcasts. You then have two options for the Apple Watch version. You can use it as a remote control to play podcast episodes through your phone, or you can sync and listen to individual episodes directly on your watch.

To do the latter, open the iPhone app and tap the Settings icon. Tap the Sync to Watch option, choose the podcasts you want to sync, and select the number of recent episodes to include. Back at the main screen in the iPhone app, tap the Downloads icons to see the progress of the syncing. (This process is slow but goes faster if your Apple Watch is connected to its charger).

After the podcasts have synced, segue to the Apple Watch app. Tap the phone icon to play podcasts through your phone. Tap the watch icon to play the episodes you synced to your watch, then just tap the episode you wish to play. You can pause, skip ahead, jump back, and change the volume. For $9.99 a year, Overcast Premium removes all the ads.

Pandora Music

If you already listen to Pandora on your computer or iPhone, you can enjoy it on your watch as well. The options for this free app vary depending on whether you have a free account or a paid subscription. Either way, you can easily listen to and control your music.

After you launch Pandora on your watch, the app displays stations you've already created through your phone or the website. Swipe through the list to view each station and tap the station you wish to hear, or tap the Shuffle button to shuffle music from all your stations. From your watch, you can play or pause the current song, give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, and skip to the next track.

You can also turn the Digital Crown to adjust the volume, tap the forward button to jump to the next track, and tap the rewind button to go back in time 30 seconds. Swipe all the way to the right to return to the station list. Other music apps you may want to check out are Spotify and iHeartRadio.

10% Happier

Offering a series of guided meditations, 10% Happier is designed to help calm your mind and body. The free iPhone version serves up several select meditations. To gain access to the full range, you'll have to sign up for a $99.99-per-year subscription, though you can try before you buy with a free 7-day trial.

The Apple Watch version is more basic, but it doesn't require you to open the iPhone version, so you can run it as a standalone app from your wrist. Each day the app provides a different meditation with a specific goal in mind. The meditation typically begins with a brief explanation or description of its purpose. The speaker then moves into the meditation to guide you along.

Just open the app, start the daily meditation, and close your eyes as you listen and relax.

Voice Record Pro

You can record a conversation or other audio using your iPhone's built-in Voice Memos app. But if your iPhone isn't handy, you can use your Apple Watch and turn to a free app called Voice Record Pro.

You can record audio directly through the app. Just press the record button. The app even displays a VU (Volume Unit) meter so you can monitor the volume of the audio. Press Stop when done. You can then play the recording from the Apple Watch app.

As another option, you can use the Apple Watch version as a remote to start and control an audio recording for the iPhone app. Whether you record from your watch or your phone, you can then use the iPhone version to edit the recording and save it or share it.

Yelp

Yelp is a helpful mobile phone app that can steer you to the right restaurants, stores, businesses, and activities around town. But it's also a skilled app for your Apple Watch. Search for nearby restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and other spots to eat and drink. Tapping a particular place brings up directions, reviews, and other details.

About the Author

Surviving a long and varied career in publishing, advertising, and IT, Lance Whitney now wears a few different technology hats. By day, he's a journalist, software trainer, and sometime Web developer. By night, he's asleep. These days, he writes news stories, columns, and reviews for CNET and other technology sites and publications. He;s written two books for Wiley & Sons: Windows 8 Five Minutes at a Time in 2012, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY LinkedIn in 2014. Contact Lance via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. See Full Bio